An Oral History

More photos and videos

Here you’ll find my visual musings about my journey into Mexico and into my own past.

September 14, 2015: A few old photos of the Lazy Y 5 Ranch, where I spent my early years learning that I did not wish to join the ranks of the cowboys.

My grandfather’s 1941 Mercury, photo taken circa 1985. From my uncle Mike: During the summer of 1946, I batched with my father at the Iron King Mine In Humboldt, AZ,.I borrowed this car every Saturday night to drive to Prescott to see the ladies. It was a great car–1941 Mercury. The ladies liked it. I ended up getting grounded. I arrived back in Humboldt one night a tad late. Just as I was getting into bed the alarm to get up went off. To say my dad was unhappy with me is an understatement. Anyway, the summer was about over and I went on to other things.

Another view of my grandfather’s car.

My grandmother’s house, where I lived my early, formative years.

Another view of my grandmother’s house.

A few of our cattle.

My grandmother in 1963.

My uncles bringing home dinner sometime in the 1930s.

On the ranch, circa 1956, with my sister, mother, and aunt.

On the ranch, circa 1961.

On the ranch, circa 1964, shortly after I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.

September 15, 2015. At the Boothill Graveyard in Tombsone, Arizona, visiting the grave of Al George, my great, great, great uncle. Al moved to the area in the 1880s to work as a cowboy for the Kansas Cattle Company. Contrary to the inscription on the grave marker, on December 31, 1884, while rounding up cattle near Black Diamond mine and not far The Town too Tough to Die, Apaches took his life.

September 16, 2015. Bisbee, Arizona, where my grandparents settled for a short while before homesteading their ranch a few miles west of here.

Bisbee

Brewery Gulch, now politely called Brewery Avenue. My grandparents lived here for a couple of years. Fortunately, the Gulch was not a dead end for my family.

Brewery Gulch

Bisbee Street Art

Bisbee wildlife

My hang in Bisbee (photo by Laurel Parrott)

September 17-20, 2015. My first journey into Mexico, photos and details here.

September 20, 2015. The San Pedro River, including a former house on the Boquillas ranch, now denoted “The San Pedro House,” the river, and, horrors, a traffic light at the turn-off to the road that leads to the ranch where I grew up.

September 21-25, 2015. My second journey into Mexico, photos and details here. A few other images:

Photos from the family cemetery on the ranch and a few nearby sights.

October 7, 2015: I spent my day wandering along the northern edge of the border and visiting the ranch of the famous cattleman, Texas John Slaughter.

A couple of video clips of the land that gave birth to the Wild West:

Texas John Slaughter’s ranch, now a museum:

October 10, 2015: I spent a fascinating day embedded with the arts group that erected a virtual fence that bisected the US/Mexico border fence.